Three things we learned in QP Friday

For the Friday before a break week, QP was a little more animated than usual. The tabling this week of departmental performance reports, a cancelled opposition military base visit, and breaking news on the F-35 procurement front made it a military-heavy 45 minutes in the last sitting before Remembrance Day.

The Liberals don’t think Rob Nicholson would make a good CEO

The Department of National Defence’s annual report card wasn’t a good one. Liberal MP John McKay counted 60 performance targets missed; some had to do with procurement, half of which, he said, were behind schedule, but he also noted that only two-thirds of Canadian military personnel are satisfied with the mental health care services they’re getting.

As the government’s report put it, that was “slightly lower than expected” and “a more comprehensive analysis” is therefore required.

McKay has already done his.

“No CEO would be allowed to keep his or her job if they missed 60 performance targets…”

The CF-18s are still fine for now

The Canadian Press reported Friday that a leaked U.S. Department of Defence slide presentation shows the Harper government has tried to place an order for at least four F-35 stealth fighters in the current fiscal year. NDP defence critic Jack Harris asked for confirmation; he didn’t get it.

“No decision has been made on replacing the CF-18s as of yet,” Conservative MP Bernard Trottier answered.

Canadian military bases aren’t parks

Having been invited to tour a Canadian Forces base in St. John’s this morning by its commanding officer, the NDP’s veterans affairs critic and the MP St. John’s South — Mount Pearl were informed by Defence Minister Rob Nicholson’s office Thursday evening that they couldn’t visit because it wasn’t in their riding, Jack Harris informed the House.

The base, it turns out, is in Harris’ riding — “a stone’s throw from St. John’s South — Mount Pearl”, and Harris charged that it was “outrageous” to treat a military asset as a political asset.

James Bezan, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of defence, said the MPs could visit when it worked better for the Canadian Forces, but that there was also a heightened level of security at Canadian bases that needed to be considered.